President Donald Trump has voiced mounting frustration with Iran's negotiators, accusing them of lying and cheating, and suggested the United States may act "without a deal" on Iran's nuclear programme. Speaking at a NATO summit in Ankara, Trump signalled that talks are faltering, but the article argues the deeper obstacle is uncertainty over whether anyone in Tehran now holds the authority to strike or enforce an agreement, following the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the opening US-Israeli attacks.

According to the report, Mojtaba Khamenei succeeded his father as supreme leader after the elder Khamenei was killed on 28 February, but he has not appeared publicly since, and US assessments cited by Reuters describe power as dispersed among senior Revolutionary Guard commanders and civilian officials. Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, a former IRGC commander who led the negotiating delegation, has emerged as a leading figure, though Iranian-American journalist Banafsheh Zand says he competes with rivals including IRGC commander-in-chief Ahmad Vahidi, Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani and former Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. Zand contends that power has fractured, leaving the IRGC as Iran's dominant force and meaning the person negotiating with Washington may not be endorsed by others, while Tehran has also launched a social media influence campaign aimed at swaying Americans.